by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

August 20, 2024

CHICAGO — Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock called for unity Monday night in rallying around Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, during a primetime slot shortly before President Joe Biden took center stage at the Democratic National Convention.

“I need my neighbor’s children to be OK so that my children will be OK,” said Warnock, a Baptist minister. “I need all of my neighbor’s children to be OK, poor inner city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia, I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine, I need American children on both sides of the track to be OK. Because we are all God’s children. And so let’s stand together. Let’s work together. Let’s organize together. Let’s pray together. Let’s stand together. Let’s heal the land.”

Warnock was among the key speakers on the convention’s opening night that included 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and First Lady Jill Biden.

Warnock sought to juxtapose his election on Jan. 5, 2021, which, alongside that of fellow Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, left the U.S. Senate in Democratic control, with the attack on the U.S. Capitol the following day.

“We must choose between the promise of January 5th and the peril of January 6th, a nation that embraces all of us or just some of us,” Warnock said.

Georgia sent 108 pledged delegates and another 15 automatic delegates, better known as superdelegates, to the convention, which started with a breakfast meeting early Monday.

Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye told the Peach State delegates over bacon and eggs on the first day to try to make contacts to help Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, win the state.

“I want you to remember that each of you is an ambassador for the state of Georgia,” Olasanoye said. “It is not just our elected officials or the U.S. delegates. Part of the way we are going to tell the story of Georgia is you all are going to tell your story, and that’s not just to a camera or to a print reporter, that’s to the other 3,900 delegates that are on the other side of the floor. Some of those people are in states that don’t have as much at stake as we have in our state, and we need to talk to those folks about ways that they can plug into what we’re doing.” 

“So let’s be partying and let’s talk about that,” he added. “But let’s also remember, we’ve got an election to win, and I think every one of us would like to win it by a little more than 11,000,’’ he said referencing the slim margin that Biden won the state in 2020. “And there are a lot of people with money and who have time and have networks that can help us do that. So we’ve got to be talking about that too when we’re on the floor.”

Congresswoman Nikema Williams said it wasn’t too long ago that the Democratic Party discounted the possibility of gaining ground in Georgia.

“I remember the days when they would come to us and they would ask us to get people down on the coast in Savannah, to send our volunteers down to Florida,” she said. “Well, y’all, those days are of the past.”

Matthew Wilson, vice chair of the state Democratic Party and a former state representative, said he expects delegates from other states will be eager to help.

“I sit on the DNC year round, and so I attend these meetings throughout the year with other states, and we don’t really have to sell Georgia to anybody,” he said. “Because once they find out that I’m from Georgia, all they want to know is how can they help, when can they come, you know, can their bridge group phone bank and reach out to Georgia voters. So it’s been really awesome to see how all the other states are really committed to what we’re doing in Georgia and making sure that we’re continuing to make progress and keep Georgia blue for the vice president and Gov. Walz.”

Speaking to reporters Monday morning, Warnock, who is not on the ballot this year, pledged to donate his time and infrastructure to promote the Democratic ticket.

“I’m prepared to barnstorm all across Georgia – I know a little bit, after all, about how to win Georgia,” he said. “And I plan to move all across our country, do everything I can to send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House.”

Warnock won re-election in 2022 against Herschel Walker, a beloved football star who many Republicans privately admitted was a deeply flawed candidate, whose scandals included allegedly paying women for abortions despite claiming to be anti-abortion and allegedly hiding children born out-of-wedlock from the public.

Warnock said he believes the same coalition that helped him win will come out for Harris.

“I think there’s a reason why you saw a number of Republicans vote for me,” he said. “I think because of the work I was doing, but also because they were looking at the alternative. And elections are about a choice. And Kamala Harris needs to be compared, not to the Almighty, I believe President Obama famously said, but to the alternative.”

“You will see Democrats, you will see the people in the middle, you will see common sense Republicans come together and say, ‘let’s fight for America so that we can then have the fights that Democrats and Republicans will continue to have,’” he added.

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